142 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



The purpose of the sugar laboratory is to study from a chemical 

 point of view all aspects of the sugar industry, including therewith 

 those nearly allied carbohydrates, starches. The work covers practi- 

 cally the chemical studies and related techno-chemical industries 

 having for their object the manufacture of sugar or starch, or their 

 products, in any form, or for any purpose. Tlie sugar industry is 

 preeminently one which has depended for its development on chem- 

 ical research, and it is safe to say that the beet would still be only a 

 garden vegetable, devoid of any practical utility for sugar making, 

 had it not been for the imj)etus given to its development by chemists. 



The most important collaborative work of the sugar laboratory has 

 been in the study of the composition of the sugar beet as affected by 

 environment, in which this laboratory has had the assistance of the 

 Weather Bureau in collecting and preparing the meteorological data 

 in various parts of the country where experiments were conducted; 

 also the valuable collaboration of the North Carolina, Iowa, Michigan, 

 Utah, Virginia, Indiana, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and the two New York 

 experiment stations, which have consented to furnish the agricul- 

 tural data in connection with the work, and also to duplicate the 

 chemical analj^ses. 



Other interesting and valuable work of the sugai- laboratory has 

 been the collaborative study of the composition of muskmelons as 

 affected by environment. In this work the laboratory has had the col- 

 laboration of the following experiment stations for the agricultural 

 data and also for duplicating the chemical analyses: New Jersey, 

 California, Colorado, Delaware, Arizona, North Carolina, Kentucky, 

 Indiana, Texas, and Maryland. 



INSECTICIDES AND AGRICULTURAL WATER LABORATORY. 



Of this laboratory Mr. J. K. Haywood was made chief. In some 

 instances it has been necessary to put more than one group of investi- 

 gations in one laboratory, as the equipment of the Bureau would not 

 permit the formation of a separate laboratorj^ for each subject of 

 study. For this reason the subjects of insecticides and agricultural 

 waters have been placed in one laboratory. 



During the year ended June 30, 1902, the study of the composition 

 of the springs on the Government reservation at Hot Springs, Ark., 

 undertaken in cooi)eration with the Interior Department, was com- 

 pleted, and the results compiled and forwarded to the Secretary of the 

 Interior, who had them j)ublished as Senate Document No. 282. This 

 work shows the comj)Osition of all the hot springs, explains their 

 medicinal qualities, and gives very complete methods for the analysis 

 of waters of this class. 



In collaboration with the Division of Entomology, this laboratory 

 has made analyses of about IGO samples of insecticides, fungicides, 

 and disinfectants, gathered from all parts of the United States. The 

 work done uj^on this subject has been published in a popular form as 

 Farmers' Bulletin 146, and in a more technical and complete form as 

 Bulletin No. (38, of the Bureau of Chemistry. The methods of analysis 

 used, many of which were devised for the work, are given in the latter 

 bulletin. The results of this work show that many of this class of 

 preparations are of little or no value for the purpose intended, while 

 many more that could just as well be prepared by the farmer are sold 

 at an exorbitant rate. Objection has been made on the part of vari- 

 ous manufacturers of proprietary articles used as insecticides and 



